Israeli forces carried out arrests in Gaza’s largest functioning hospital, health officials and the military said on Saturday, as airstrikes hit across the enclave and rain battered Palestinians taking shelter in Rafah.
Israeli forces raided the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis on Thursday as they pressed their war on Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that rules the enclave.
“Occupation forces detained a large number of medical staff members inside Nasser Medical Complex, which they [Israel] turned into a military base,” said Gaza Health Ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qidra.
The Israeli military said it was hunting for militants in Nasser. So far, 100 suspects were arrested on the premises, gunmen near the hospital were killed, and weapons were found inside it, the military said.
Israel conducts a raid on the largest hospital still functioning in Gaza, leading to a panicked evacuation. Meanwhile, the international community warns of potential mass casualties along the Egyptian border as Israel prepares to attack the city of Rafah.
Hamas has denied allegations that its fighters use medical facilities for cover. At least two released Israeli hostages have said they were held in Nasser.
The Israeli incursion into the hospital has raised concerns about patients, medical workers and displaced Palestinians who are sheltering there.
About 10,000 people were seeking shelter at the hospital earlier this week but many left, either in anticipation of the Israeli raid or because of Israeli orders to evacuate, the Gaza Health Ministry said.
G7 calls for ‘urgent action’ on Rafah
Further south in Rafah, where more than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million population are sheltering, the winter cold added to already dire conditions after wind blew away some tents of the displaced and rain flooded others.
Israeli plans to storm Rafah have prompted international concern, including from G7 foreign ministers who met in Munich on Saturday, that such action would sharply worsen the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
G7 ministers called for “urgent action to address the catastrophic humanitarian crisis in Gaza, particularly the plight of 1.5 million civilians sheltering in Rafah, and they expressed deep concern for the potentially devastating consequences on the civilian population of Israel’s further full scale military operation in that area,” according to a statement released by Italy.
Italy is currently chairing the Group of Seven nations that includes Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States.
A Saturday statement from Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh blamed Israel for a lack of progress in achieving a ceasefire deal in Gaza.
Haniyeh added that Hamas would not accept anything less than a complete cessation of hostilities, Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and “lifting of the unjust siege,” as well as a release of Palestinian prisoners serving long sentences in Israeli jails.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed “complete victory” over Hamas but added on Wednesday that flexibility in the group’s position could move forward negotiations for a deal that would see hostages released.
Israel’s air and ground offensive has devastated much of Gaza and forced nearly all of its inhabitants from their homes. Palestinian health authorities say 28,858 people, mostly civilians, have been killed.
The war began when Hamas sent fighters into Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and seizing 253 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
At least 83 people were killed in airstrikes across the Gaza Strip since Friday, health officials said, including one person on Saturday in Rafah, an area that borders Egypt and which Israel says is Hamas’s last bastion.
The Israeli military said its jets had killed numerous militants in Gaza fighting since Friday.
Across the border, air raid sirens warning of incoming rockets sounded in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon on Saturday.